Northwestern's Dizzy Bat Race

Spring football, the time of the year when players get back to learning the fundamentals and teams work on tweaking schemes while preparing for the upcoming season.

I’m sure from a player’s point of view, the spring season can get a little monotonous. After all, there’s no real game to look forward, too. Just 15 practices leading into the summer conditioning.

That doesn’t mean it has to be all work, however. Just ask Northwestern. The Wildcats have an annual spring tradition known as the Dizzy Bat Race which they do prior to the spring game.

Here’s the deal. Players have to spin around a baseball bat 10 times, run 10 yards, and then hand-off to their teammate who does the same. After five turns, the team that’s in the lead wins the competition after completing one final task: eating a hot dog.

It doesn’t sound like it would be all that difficult, I mean it’s only one hot dog. But judging by the players at the end of the video who actually have to eat said hot dog, it’s not as easy it might appear.

Be careful if you try this at home and give yourself plenty of room. Check out #37 at the 1:05 mark if you’re wondering why (who is kicker Jeff Budzien according to Northwestern’s roster). Actually, it’s worth watching all of them stagger around.